Adhesive bonding has been long employed as a means of joining metallic details to substrates such as metallic, ceramic, wood or composite surfaces. When the metallic detail wears during use, dimensional restoration is typically achieved by breaking the adhesive bond to separate the detail from the substrate, restoring or replacing the metallic detail, and re-bonding the detail to the substrate. As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B of the prior art, this process is prone to incurring damage to the substrate 10 during metallic detail 12 removal. Damage may occur such as a change of geometry 20 of the fillet 14, and/or a disbond or separation 16 at the bondment 18 of the fillet 14 and metallic detail 12. Furthermore, the metallic detail 12 often requires tooling to be correctly re-installed in the proper location and orientation on the substrate 10.
Therefore, there exists a need for a process that allows metallic details adhesively bonded to underlying substrates to be dimensionally repaired, without degrading the function of the adhesive bond, and without damaging the substrate with the heat generated during the metallic detail restoration process.